A plumber's hammer or an elf's sword... Take your pick!

[E-Man]

I'm gonna have to go with Mario on this one. Lots of Zelda games I love, but here's one thing. Mario is named after the main character, he's always playable (unless he's Missing...) and many of his friends are also usually playable. Zelda, is named after an NPC, who's never playable, except in crossover party fighters...(which is one of my favorite things about Smash really)

I'll give the Mario games that. If I ever get to play a Zelda game that lets me play as Zelda that isn't on CD-i and does not portray Zelda as a mice fearing girly-girl, I'll be happy! I need to get my new friend and I together to create a ROM hack of a Link to the Past and see about doing that.

On top of that, I seem to enjoy how many appealing female characters are in the Zelda games.

None are appealing as Princess Ruto though.
<Big, honking image of Ruto goes here.>
Seriously, what's up with her? Why is she so strangely sexy? It's like, crazy! She's also really sassy too, which is honestly a plus...Umm...yeah. I like the Zoras anyway, but she's a step above the rest. Well, you know, she's probably my favorite Zelda character for some reason. I really wish she was playable some how! Wouldn't that be something else? I happen to love underwater segments in most games, yes, even the infamous Water Temple. Just imagine a character who can really swim with Legend of Zelda gameplay! It will probably never be though...I guess if I want playable Princess Ruto, then, I've gotta do it myself. Actually, I was gonna include her in one of my RPG Maker projects, but maybe I should mess around with some Zelda engine or whatever for something. A Zelda game with various playable characters has always been a dream of mine. (I like Link, but c'mon!)

I'm guessing it's her nudity and the fact that she is a fish woman. Plus, she gets humor points for actively trying to get Link to love her.

By the way, if you're looking for a character who could swim with Zelda gameplay, what about Zora Link? I have to tell you that playing as him was the best swimming experience in any game I could think of! Besides, it beats the Mermaid Suit out of the water with a barbed stick!

I kid (sort of). The Water Temple wasn't even that hard for me. I will say Dark Link (without hammer abuse) is a little rough around the edges, but manageable. The hardest Zelda game has to be Zelda 2. I mean come on, that last stretch of the game and Death Mountain is like, a huge steep difficulty curve in the game.

Mario never had that sort of challenge. Like, sure you'd end up dying to a Goomba or something from time to time, but the games were never HARD. Beginning with Super Mario World, I'd say the games turned into more of a 100% completion type of thing, like Kirby, instead of a game presenting a challenge. All the secret paths and stages to find and such. Even Doki Doki Panic (Super Mario Bros 2 USA) wasn't TOO bad; the Phantasmo Masks were annoying, but you can get through the game without using a continue o.o.

I don't know if this was true when I was younger, but the Water Temple never gave any trouble these days. How it appears in the 3DS remake really brings out the Asian design that makes it so cool! The temple is surprisingly easier in the Master Quest for the game, though.

As for heavy collecting in video games, I like doing that. Having a chance to explore the world, find hidden goodies, and learn new tricks on the way gives me a ton of joy! That's why I always get a kick out of playing one of the first two Banjo games and DK64. Super Mario 64 is nice, but Rare did a good job of refining that type of genre. Give me Banjo-Kazooie over Mario 64 any day! I would like it if there was a Zelda game that was similar to a Banjo-Kazooie game. Maybe the boys at Nintendo could look into that?